UKTI welcomes government's £13m export pledge

00:01, 3 October 2012

ByManchester Evening News

The body aiming to boost exports from the region has welcomed news the government has pledged an extra £13m to help firms trade overseas.
The cash has been allocated by the Department for Business and will help pay for more SMEs to attend trade shows abroad, support businesses with travel costs linked to trade missions and provide discounts to on overseas market research service.

The body aiming to boost exports from the region has welcomed news the government has pledged an extra £13m to help firms trade overseas.
The cash has been allocated by the Department for Business and will help pay for more SMEs to attend trade shows abroad, support businesses with travel costs linked to trade missions and provide discounts to on overseas market research service.
It will be spent across the UK through regional branches of UK Trade & Investment.
The pledge comes on the back of figures that showed exports from the north west hit a three-year low.
Figures compiled by HM Revenue & Customs show £5.53bn of goods were sent overseas by the region's firms during the second quarter of the year, down from £6.86bn in the previous three months and from £6.73bn than in the comparative period of 2011.
Clive Drinkwater, regional director for UKTI north west said: “I have challenged the north west business community to work with us to find 1,000 new exporters this year and we are well on our way, but the additional funding will enable SMEs to have real additional benefits in their international business market planning and help drive us to the target.
“Trade fairs and trade missions can be extremely helpful and we have increased the funding available to SMEs to take their first steps in exporting using UKTI schemes.”
Business secretary Vince Cable said: “One of our major ambitions for growth is to boost UK exports. We have to excel in trade. Small and medium-sized enterprises are crucial to this challenge – over half of the monetary value of the UK’s exports comes from SMEs.”

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